News

CESET and the Transforming Energy Access Learning Partnership

9th September, 2021

On Monday the CESET team met for their first meeting following the UK summer holidays. The focus of the meeting was on energy learning East Africa. To support the development of CESET’s Regional Energy Learning Alliance, we were delighted to welcome guest presenter Guy Cunliffe from Transforming Energy Access Learning Partnership. TEA-LP launched in 2019.

Congratulations to CESET PI Vanesa on her AXA Award for Climate Science

21st July, 2021

We are delighted to announce that Professor Vanesa Castán Broto has been awarded a AXA Award for her contributions to Climate Science

Vanesa is one of only four outstanding scientists selected by the AXA Research Fund’s independent Scientific Board for her ground-breaking work in the field of climate change.

New briefing - From Asking Why to Thinking How: Emerging Challenges for Urban Climate Action

20th July, 2021

Vanesa Castán Broto and her colleague Linda Westman have recently published a briefing as part of The British Academy's COP26 Briefings Series aimed at raising awareness of the importance of our disciplines in understanding the comp

New open access article on how to increase electricity access in Mozambique

14th July, 2021

Our CESET partners’ Dr Josh Kirshner and Lorraine Howe + their colleagues have just published a new open access article in Energy Research and Social Science Journal.

Building the RELA network

7th July, 2021

Last month members of the CESET team met with representatives from the Transforming Energy Access Learning Partnership (TEA-LP) to discuss a possible collaboration with the CESET project and the Regional Energy Learning Alliance.

Huge welcome to - Hita Unnikrishnan - new CESET researcher

25th June, 2021

We are delighted to welcome Hita Unnikrishnan to the CESET team where she will work across all four key pillars of work.

Hita joined the Urban Institute as a post-doctoral researcher on a Newton International Fellowship. Her work focuses on histories of urban water commons within the south Indian city of Bengaluru.

Roundtable Workshop: Emerging narratives for sustainable energy in displacement settings

24th May, 2021

On Friday 21^st May 2021 our CESET Principle Investigator Professor Vanesa Castán Broto participated in a roundtable with other researchers and practitioners involved in energy projects in situations of displacement as part of the Community Energy Resilience Roundtable Series.

RELA Webinar 4 available to watch on YouTube

17th May, 2021

The final webinar in the current Regional Energy Learning Alliance series took place on Thursday 13^th May 2021.

Fatima Arthur joins CESET as expert advisor

12th May, 2021

The CESET team is delighted to announce that Maria de Fatima Serra Ribeiro Arthur has joined the project team. Fatima brings extensive experience as the previous Executive Director for People and Corporate Services, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM).

New member joins the CESET team

12th May, 2021

A huge welcome to Christopher Bill Hara, as he joins Collen Zalengera as part of the Malawi CESET team, as the new Research Assistant at Mzuzu University.

Christopher is a well-trained renewable energy specialist with research and project management skills and experience in renewable and clean energy deployment. He has over 3 years of experience in the agriculture and energy sectors where he has engaged in community development and undertaken market research and energy feasibility studies.

New book published on Inclusive Urban Development in the Global South

5th May, 2021

Our CESET principle investigator Professor Vanesa Castán Broto and her colleague Professor Andrea Rigon at University College London have edited a new book with Routledge.

CESET invited speaker at the 7th Mozambique Mining, Oil & Gas and Energy Conference 2021

23rd April, 2021

Our CESET principle investigator - Professor Vanesa Castán Broto - was invited to speak at the virtual MME Conference on “Utilizing Natural Resources as the Catalyst for Economic Development and Diversification”. The 3-day virtual conference took place between 21-23 April.

CESET feedback on Mozambique’s new draft off-grid regulation

20th April, 2021

The Government of Mozambique recently distributed a draft off grid regulation and requested comments by the private sector and other relevant stakeholders. CESET were given the opportunity to participate in the consultation process and provided feedback to the Associação Moçambicana de Energias Renováveis (AMER), a non-profit association whose mission is to promote renewable energy in Mozambique.

SCENE developing a flexible model to address the energy gap

9th April, 2021

SCENE are CESET’s delivery partner for work package 4 and technical specialists in community energy and energy access. They have identified an energy access gap between solar-home systems and traditional minigrid infrastructure. To address this, they are working with their colleagues on another project (Emblem) to develop the models and technology to fill it. The solution centres around developing flexible infrastructure that can leverage existing assets (e.g.

New briefing on financial aspects of micro- and pico- community energy systems

30th March, 2021

The CESET team have produced this briefing to outline the basic financial features of CES development as they are planning to put them in practice within the CESET project. The review raises some important questions of general interest for understanding CES. The main question is whether a CES can be integrated within a community in a way that the community can reduce its operating costs and support its long term viability.

New CESET briefing paper on research ethics after COVID-19

15th March, 2021

CESET is an international project with partners in the UK, Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic we wanted to understand the ethical challenges the team were now facing. This briefing provides an overview of a survey undertaken with the CESET team concerning the project’s core ethical challenges, the emerging risks, and the anticipation of new challenges after COVID-19.

3rd RELA webinar on access to electricity in Ethiopia available to watch

11th March, 2021

On Thursday 11^th March 2021 our CESET partner Professor Getachew Bekele of Addis Ababa University delivered the 3^rd webinar in our Regional Energy Learning Alliance series.

The 2nd RELA webinar - rethinking energy poverty - now available to watch

15th February, 2021

Last week Professor Benjamin K. Sovacool of Energy Policy at the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex Business School and the Director of the Centre on Innovation and Energy Demand and of the Sussex Energy Group gave a presentation at the Regional Learning Alliance webinar series. Chair, Lorraine Howe, introduced Ben whose presentation focused on “Rethinking energy poverty and best practices for the governance of distributed renewable energy access”.

Top 10 insights in climate science in 2020

3rd February, 2021

The 10 New Insights in Climate Science 2020 report was prepared by a consortium of 57 leading researchers from 21 countries - including our CESET partner Professor Vanesa Castán Broto. As a partnership of Future Earth, the Earth League, and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), the series synthesizes the latest sustainability research for the international science-policy community, with annual installments since 2017.

This year’s top insights are below:

New chapter on the European Green Deal and the challenge of systemic change in urban areas

27th January, 2021

Our CESET partner Vanesa Castán Broto has written a chapter entitled “The European Green Deal and the challenge of systemic change in urban areas” in the new book “Towards a European Green Deal with Cities” published by CIDOB.